1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to routers and, more particularly, to a broadcast router with multiple expansion capabilities.
2. Background of the Invention
In conventional linearly expandable broadcast router architectures, each chassis includes both input cards and output cards. A broadcast router allows each one of a plurality of outputs there from to be assigned a signal from any one of a plurality of inputs thereto. For example, an N×M broadcast router has N inputs and M outputs coupled together by a routing engine that allows any one of the N inputs to be applied to each one of the M outputs.
Broadcast router configurations can vary widely, for example, it can require few inputs and but many outputs, many inputs and few outputs, or approximately equal inputs and outputs.
Linearly expandable routers allow users to start with a smaller router and enlarge it later by adding more chassis and connecting the chassis. Supporting a wide range of differences between number of inputs and outputs and linear expansion will result in configurations where large portions of the chassis are empty.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and highly advantageous to have a broadcast router with multiple expansion capabilities.